The state is unwilling to define reparative therapy and denial of medical care to transgender youths as abuse. We cannot change what religious leaders are preaching, nor do our voices carry enough weight to effectively gainsay their religious messaging. A radical new direction is needed. Therefore, I propose an emancipation project.

As the world marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance to commemorate the transgender and gender-nonconforming people taken from us by violence in the past year, a new resource -- the trans-staffed crisis phone line Trans Lifeline -- is now available to help trans people.

The major political issue for me is presenting ourselves as victims. Many of us are and have been victims, but the best way to gain allies, and to build support and empathy, seems to be by emphasizing our humanity, strength and resilience.

The surgery date for mid-October 2013 was taken off the surgery schedule and delayed indefinitely. Why this happened is still a mystery that I would like to solve. But Danielle was not willing to wait. She took another road to becoming what she couldn't wait one minute more to become.

I didn't see a way out. I was tired of hearing things in my head, and tired of feeling weighed down from the top of me to the bottom, and mostly tired of this constant, numb sadness that found its way into every moment of my life. I was 16 years old, and I wanted to die.